It is difficult, without spilling, to pour oil from a usual can, bottle or similar container into the filler inlet for an automotive engine oil reservoir, unless a funnel is used. That is because the container usually has a short neck (or no neck), the container usually is nearly completely full, and the vicinity of the filler inlet may be obstructed by other structures. In time of need, a funnel may not be available. This leads to undesirable spills and to an undue reluctance to give proper attention to adding oil to the engine.
Although engine oil is given as a ready example, there are other situations in which a comparable problem arises due to the difficulty of pouring a liquid, without spillage, from an open neck of a container, without the aid of a funnel.
In my aforementioned earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,479 I have disclosed a container for a liquid which is to be poured out of the container through an open neck, is internally provided with a buoyant stopper for the neck. The stopper is oriented, by uneven weight distribution, to float in a stop surface up, flexible tabs down orientation. In use, the container, after being opened, is slightly squeezed to elevate the stopper stop surface into sealing engagement with the neck. In this condition, the container is inverted and its open neck placed over the intended receiver, whereupon manual squeezing is relaxed, allowing the stopper to bob up towards the bottom of container. Inversion, while bobbing up, desirably orients the stopper so that, as the stopper settles into the container shoulder or neck during emptying, it cannot undesirably replug the container neck. The stopper can be inserted into the container during the container manufacturing process, by flexing the tabs and forcing the stopper into the container through the neck, tab end first.
At least insofar as the disclosed preferred embodiment of my prior invention is concerned, the container is a specially made one, since the oriented stopper is provided in an integral portion of the neck of the container.